It's the Red Sox and Yankees in the ALCS for the second straight season, which again has confident Sox fans saying "This is The Year."

We asked you to submit an essay on why (or why not) this is the year the Red Sox will beat the Yankees in the ALCS and win their first World Series in 86 years. We were planning on posting just a few of the entries, but we were so overwhelmed by the number and the quality of the responses that we decided to post them all. Enjoy ...

Page 6

When you look back at the 2003 ALCS it is suprising the Sox made it to game 7. With Pedro, Lowe, Wake, and John Burkett (are you serious?) throwing against Mussina, Pettite, Wells, and Clemens we probably should have beaten in 5 games. Everyone knows we have a huge advantage in starting pitching this year. The hitting seems to be about even. The starting defense seems about even. The Yanks (just like the Angles) have an advantage with the end of their bullpen. The Sox have an advantage in that we can bring in a couple of lefties to face Matsui and Olerud, and that can turn around Bernie, Posada, and Sierra. The Yanks have the advangtage with their veteran manager. However, it is often the small and seemingly insignificant things that often turn series. How many times have the Yanks won a playoff series when a relatively unknown player made a crucial contribution? Boone and Luis Sojo immediately jump to mind. These are some scenarios that i think may play out that almost no one has mentioned. Lets assume Schilling has won 2 games for us, and we have won 1 other game to this point. The Sox lead the series 3-2, it is game 6 at the Stadium. Here is the scenario: The score is 5-5, top of the 9th. Bill Mueller leads off the inning with a single up the middle. Here is a rarely mentioned advantage. Dave Roberts can come in and pinch run. Roberts steals second on the first pitch. Damon bunts him over to third. Bellhorn hits a sac fly to right and Roberts uses his tremendous speed to just beat out the throw from Sheffield. Speed kills. 6-5 Sox. To the bottom of the 9th: Foulke comes in and the Yanks have the bases loaded with 1 out. A-Rod is up. Time for underappreciated advantage #2: Pay-Rod hits the ball hard and it is heading up the middle. Cabrera dives and shovels it with his glove to Pokey who is covering second, Pokey bare hands the flip, spins, and throws in the dirt to Minty at first. Minty picks it out of the dirt and A-Rod is out by a half-step (and the ump doesn't blow the call). Gold glove to gold glove to gold glove. Game over. Sox win 6-5. World Series here we come!

Chris, Sox in 6

As a boy growing up in Canada, my first team was the Montreal Expos. But something that would change that happened along the way; it was called the 1975 World Series. I was so enthrawled by that series that my allegiances have always blured. The 1986 World Series and the strike of 1994 (the Expos had the best record in baseball that year) have not broken my faith, they have only solidified my resolve. As the state of baseball in Montreal has gone down the tubes over the past few years I have focused more and more on the Redsox. Let's face it, win or lose, they are a hoot to root for. With the sad but eventual ending of the Montreal Expos, I believe that the baseball Gods will make things right by shining on the Boston Redsox. The Kharma will flow through Olando Cabrerra and he will make clutch play after play and get some pivotal hits along the way. After disposing of the Evil Empire, I look forward to seeing the Sox beat the Cardinals. Cheers, Gary Nason

Gary, Sox in 6

I've followed the Red Sox since I was 15 ('75) and this is the first time that I feel confident our pitching staff is superior to the opposition. I believe that Schilling and Pedro will win 3 of the 4 games they start (Games 1 thru 6). We'll split in N.Y and take 2 out of 3 in Fenway. Our lineup may not have as many "stars" in it but our team (Red Sox) have players with lots of heart and determination; plus I believe our offense is top-to-bottom better than the Yankees; no matter how many so-called "big names" are in theirs. If nothing else makes sense; then the Sox are going to win just because they're due! My son and I have a mandatory trip planned to be with the fans of Boston outside Fenway Park with us leaving our homes in Indiana and Mississippi respectively after the Red Sox win 2 games in the world series. You see, my son is in the military and leaves for Iraq the end of December and I want this so badly for him before he leaves. Go Sox, make it happen this year!

Joe, Sox win in 6!

I think this is the best position the Red Sox have been in for any playoff season to date. I have never said this is our year before BUT I do think this is the year for us and I'll tell you why. Last year the Red Sox seemed a little "over-confident" and less focused on the game at hand. It seemed like we focused on the bigger picture last year rather than where we were that day. This year they are handling the season on a "game by game" basis. I think they are undestanding that tomorrow doesn't matter and they're dealing with the games as they come. It's important that they don't get caught up on the what ifs. We are grateful for where we are and we are treating every game like it's our last. This is what is going to make us successful.

Katherine, Sox in 7

The reason is simple. This Red Sox team is NOW one of the best defensive teams in baseball. The additions of Orlando Cabrera, Doug Mientkewicz and Dave Roberts will really help this team. With Schilling as your number 1 and Petey as number 2 that is a pretty formidable 1/2 punch. The Yankees are no where near as good as last season. Cairo at 2b doesn't scare anyone. Bernie Williams has slipped and there is no Giambi. Sheffield and A-rod add some sock but I think a lineup of Aaron Boone, Soriano and Giambi as well as Nick Johnson of last year was scarier. One other that this Sox team has is that it has some speed to go along with good hitting, pitching and defense. With Pokey, Roberts, Cabrera, Damon and Kapler to add a dimension the sox haven't had in years they can really put some pressure on the Yanks pitchers and catchers. This seems to be a very fundamentally sound team. If you matched these teams position by position I think the sox have the edge at 1b, 2b, ss, lf, cf and catcher. I'll take our pitching staff over the Yanks anyday. Go Sox in 6. The Redsox magic number is 8 wins and 4 yankee losses!

steve , redsox in 6

This is the year. There's the obvious: Schilling over Burkett, Foulke over Kim. There are Gold Gloves in Mienkiewicz, Cabrera, and Pokey. There's the expulsed discontent of the Greatest Shortstop that Ever Was in Beantown. There's the resurrected Bellhorn walk-a-thon, a streaking Nixon, a Dave Roberts to steal bases instead of Damian Jackson, the MannOrtiz, a divine Damon, and a batting champ hitting in the nine spot. Paper from the minds and diligence of an Ivy League front office never looked better. But that's not why this is the year. This is the year of the Idiot. This is the year of professed ignorance to the weight of history and of the Belicheck approach to baseball. The days of 25 players and 25 cabs are over, Pedro no longer cares about beaning the Babe, and every hairstyle from cornrows to mohawks have adorned the heads of our beloved. These are not your Daddy's Red Sox. But that's not it either. It's the year because it's 86 years since 1918 and 18 years since 1986. It's the year because the Cubs, with their monumental late-season collapse, have taken enough Curse for both of us - additions of Nomar, Todd Walker, and He Who Must Not Be Named only a disgruntled Sammy at Wrigley. It's the year when El Duque's shoulder is acting its full 38 years of age, the greatest postseason closer of all time has blown a save against us twice, and Byung-Hyun Kim is watching the postseason from Fort Myers. This is the year where visions dance in our head of an exuberant Schilling shutting out the Yankees, where a grand slam from Vlad the Destroyer only necessitates the heroics of Big Papi, and Derek Lowe picks up the win in the tenth. This is the year of Manny Manny Man-Hugs, a Cabrera shake for every pinetarred dirt dog hand, and the season of Tek the Great Leader. This is the year of the Texas Trade that thankfully never was, the Thanksgiving Trade of he with the no-trade clause, and the Temerarious Trade of an icon that no one ever thought could be. We've seen a Massachusetts senator outperform the former owner of the Texas Rangers in successive debates, the demolishing of a vaunted record by our hometown Patriots, and light at the end of the tunnel for the Big Dig. We salivate at the thought of the true showdown of Pedro pitching to Clemens, an improbability made possible only by the defection of the Rocket to his hometown Astros, and comfort ourselves that we don't have to face the postseason dynamite of a southpaw in the World Series who brought him there. This is the year, in short, because it is inevitable. Red Sox Nation rests assured in the inevitability of another Pedro-Clemens showdown, in the fact that the biggest rivalry in sports simply cannot take on greater proportions without bursting, in the incredible confluence of scheduling that produced a Fenway Halloween World Series Game 7 scenario. The Powers That Be simply wouldn't let a baseball season pass without the dramatic unfolding of events that accompany a Red Sox trip to the World Series and ecstatic revelers mingling with ghosts and princesses trick-o-treating down Yawkey Way and Landsdowne Street. In the same way that years past have only set up our Sox for dramatic failure, every factor in this year from a healthy just in time Trot Nixon, mad-dog Pedro, and super O-Cab to scheduling dates, defecting pitchers, and presidential candidates points toward the certainty of a Dan Shaughnessy column entitled, "We were long overdue." Why is this the year? Because it has to be.

Cyrus, Sox in five

This is the year because, after all these years the Yankees, do not have a player name that either begins with a B ( Babe Ruth, Bucky Dent , ) or ends with a B ( Aaron Boone) and les not forget about B ( Bill Buckner). Though the Red Sox do have Bill Mueller, but I dont forsee Mueller whos a everyday grinder making any errors at third or on the base paths. At least I hope not. The life of a Red Sox Paranoa begins Tuesday Night Game 1 Yankee Stadium.

Charles

I have this theory. I think there may be a curse within a curse that has kept the modern day Red Sox from winning it all. See, the Curse of the Bambino had a shelf life of 50 years, and for the past 37 years, the Red Sox have actually been victims of the “Curse of the Recluse,” which states, the Red Sox shall not win a world title until the Beach Boys finally release SMiLE. Forget Steven Tyler and the Dropkick Murphy’s, Brian Wilson may hold the key to ending The Curse. With the release of SMiLE on September 28, Wilson ended 30-plus years of anguish for fans of popular music. Could he do the same for Red Sox Nation? Let’s look at the similarities: 1. In 1966 the Beach Boys released Pet Sounds, one of the masterpieces of pop music. Brian Wilson said he was trying to create an album to stand next to the Beatles’ Rubber Soul. After hearing Pet Sounds, the Beatles responded with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. At the same time, Wilson was working on SMiLE, an album rumored to exceed Pet Sounds in sheer genius. But in 1967, like the Red Sox title hopes in the “Impossible Dream” season, SMiLE was shelved. 2. Musicians age in dog years. (Tell me the Rolling Stones don’t currently resemble an arthritic, 20-year-old poodle. We still love them, but it would be nice if they could learn some new tricks.) For most artists, careers are woefully short as the public’s musical taste changes more often than Kevin Millar’s facial hair. So the 37 years fans have waited for SMiLE to finally be released is basically the 86-year Red Sox drought of the music world. 3. Since the release of SMiLE, the Red Sox are 7-2, including going undefeated in Wilson’s home state of California. On Friday, the Sox completed their second ever play-off sweep against, eerily enough, the Angels. The first was against another Golden State team, the Oakland A’s. 4. While the comparisons to Grizzly Adams and Jesus Christ certainly fit, who does Johnny Damon truly resemble? None other than Brian Wilson at his most reclusive in the 1970’s. So could the release of the most legendary unheard album ever really be the key to breaking the Curse? Consider this, the song title “Do You Like Worms?” was changed to “Roll Plymouth Rock” on the new album, an apparent nod to the New England connection. With eight more wins, the Red Sox can prove my “Curse of the Recluse” theory correct, and what better way to celebrate than with a Fenway concert next September with Mr. Wilson? Don’t get me wrong, while I still love that “Dirty Water,” right now I’m pickin’ up Good Vibrations.

Brandon, Sox in Six

This is the year. There's the obvious: Schilling over Burkett, Foulke over Kim. There are Gold Gloves in Mienkiewicz, Cabrera, and Pokey. There's the expulsed discontent of the Greatest Shortstop that Ever Was in Beantown. There's the resurrected Bellhorn walk-a-thon, a streaking Nixon, a Dave Roberts to steal bases instead of Damian Jackson, the MannOrtiz, a divine Damon, and a batting champ hitting in the nine spot. Paper from the minds and diligence of an Ivy League front office never looked better. But that's not why this is the year. This is the year of the Idiot. This is the year of professed ignorance to the weight of history and of the Belicheck approach to baseball. The days of 25 players and 25 cabs are over, Pedro no longer cares about beaning the Babe, and every hairstyle from cornrows to mohawks have adorned the heads of our beloved. These are not your Daddy's Red Sox. But that's not it either. It's the year because it's 86 years since 1918 and 18 years since 1986. It's the year because the Cubs, with their monumental late-season collapse, have taken enough Curse for both of us - additions of Nomar, Todd Walker, and He Who Must Not Be Named produced only a disgruntled Sammy at Wrigley. It's the year when El Duque's shoulder is acting its full 38 years of age, the greatest postseason closer of all time has blown a save against us twice, and Byung-Hyun Kim is watching the postseason from Fort Myers. This is the year where visions dance in our head of an exuberant Schilling shutting out the Yankees, where a grand slam from Vlad the Destroyer only necessitates the heroics of Big Papi, and Derek Lowe picks up the win in the tenth. This is the year of Manny Manny Man-Hugs, a Cabrera shake for every pinetarred dirt dog hand, and the season of Tek the Great Leader. This is the year of the Texas Trade that thankfully never was, the Thanksgiving Trade of he with the no-trade clause, and the Temerarious Trade of an icon that no one ever thought could be. We've seen a Massachusetts senator outperform the former owner of the Texas Rangers in successive debates, the demolishing of a vaunted record by our hometown Patriots, and light at the end of the tunnel for the Big Dig. We salivate at the thought of the true showdown of Pedro pitching to Clemens, an improbability made possible only by the defection of the Rocket to his hometown Astros, and comfort ourselves that we don't have to face the postseason dynamite of a southpaw in the World Series who brought him there. This is the year, in short, because it is inevitable. Red Sox Nation rests assured in the inevitability of another Pedro-Clemens showdown, in the fact that the biggest rivalry in sports simply cannot take on greater proportions without bursting, in the incredible confluence of scheduling that produced a Fenway Halloween World Series Game 7 scenario. The Powers That Be simply wouldn't let a baseball season pass without the dramatic unfolding of events that accompany a Red Sox trip to the World Series and ecstatic revelers mingling with ghosts and princesses trick-o-treating down Yawkey Way and Landsdowne Street. In the same way that years past have only set up our Sox for dramatic failure, every factor in this year from a healthy just in time Trot Nixon, mad-dog Pedro, and super O-Cab to scheduling dates, defecting pitchers, and presidential candidates points toward the certainty of a Dan Shaughnessy column entitled, "We were long overdue." Why is this the year? Because it has to be.

Cyrus, Sox in five

This is the year for the Red Sox! The Nation will Rule the Empire! and there are a number of reasons why. The first reason is because there is no curse. There have been mistakes in the past noteably three: The Babe, Buckner, and Grady. We will not mention Spary Lyle lost to the Yanks, or the mistake of Mike Torrez vs. Bucky Dent. These things behind Boston, there are no "Factors" of self destruction this time. Unlike recent years, there are very few flaws in this team and everyone seems to know there role. The team is solid, and Frankona is the right man to direct this group. The Red Sox should have been the 2003 World Series Champs if it were not for the pride of Pedro and the "Grady Factor". It was clear that in the playoffs, Boston was the better team, but they gave the Yankees a gift when they had the series won. There will be no such gift this year. The Red sox have the better pitching by far and they have a deeper bench with arguably better players. The key will be Arroyo, Wakefield, and the bull pen. Shilling and Martinez can both go deep into games, Arroyo keeps the team in every outing, and Wakefield has the right stuff to baffle the Yanks when he is pitching well. The bull pen has a number of good options from the right side and effective lefties. The offense is unmatched in its ability to produce from top to bottom, and can score at any time. Overall, this is the Red Sox series to win or lose, and they have a hugh edge over New york. The Red Sox have also had some success over the Yankee closer and there is no automatic in the late innings. Defense is much improved and it has been evident throughout the latter part of the season and in the playoffs. The Sox are a more complete team than they have been for some time and are the clear favorite to go to the World Series and win it all!

eric, red sox in six